[59] For this system of espionnage see Mém. IV. 318.
[60] The first Lieutenant-general of police was La Reynie who was appointed in 1667. He was succeeded in 1697 by Marc-René, Marquis d’Argenson, who raised his department to the highest pitch of efficiency. See P. Clément La police sous Louis XIV, 2nd ed. 1866, and P. Cottin, Rapports de police de René d’Argenson, 1866.
[61] The postal service was in the hands of several generations of the Pajot and Rouillé families from 1665 to 1760. See Boislisle, XXVIII. 139, nn. 1 and 2.
[62] IV. 317-319. Michel-François Le Tellier, Marquis de Courtenvaux, was the eldest son of Louvois, “un fort petit homme, obscurément débauché, avec une voix ridicule... avare et taquin, et quoique modeste et respectueux, fort colère, et peu maître de soi quand il se capriçoit: en tout un fort sot homme.” Le Nôtre told Dr Lister that he had never seen Louis XIV in a passion. Saint-Simon gives another instance, when he broke his cane over a valet’s back (I. 263-264).
[63] “Personne au monde n’est aussi poli que notre roi,” writes Madame in 1706.
[64] Avec un almanach et une montre, on pouvait à cent lieues de lui dire à justesse ce qu’il faisoit. Il vouloit une grande exactitude dans son service; mais il y étoit exact le premier (Parallèle des trois premiers rois Bourbon). And cp. Primi Visconti, Mém. pp. 31-33.
[65] Hercule de Rohan, Duc de Montbazon (1568-1654), father of the celebrated Duchesse de Chevreuse.
[66] A small four-wheeled carriage with a folding hood.
[67] The court was installed at Versailles in 1682, but the palace was not completed till 1688.
[68] Jules Hardouin, nephew and pupil of François Mansart or Mansard, whose name he took.